BiH/Central institutions: Croatia opens a consulate in Banja Luka May Day celebrated throughout BiH HDZ-related News: SDP party offices in Vitez blown up Hercegovacka Banka employees organize protests in Mostar Hercegovakca Banka depositers: We have no income for living! Companies in the Croat majority cantons facing a collapse because of the blockade of Hercegovacka Banka Vjesnik: Interview with Jozo Krizanovic, the Croat Member of the BiH Presidency - Each constituent people in BiH should elect its own delegates to the Houses of Peoples British Ambassador Hand: BIH Croats are ready to negotiate Federation Police starts an investigation about 11,6 million KM of rent paid by the Spanish Battalion in Medjugorje Federation: Catholic Church and residential building for displaced Croats in Drvar still not constructed Republika Srpska: RS National Assembly to discuss the purchase of socially-owned flats RS government does not accept Srebrenica as a district Editorials: Slobodna Dalmacija: Slobodna Dalmacija as a burden on one's conscience Vjesnik: Petritsch 'suspends' the Court in Mostar BiH State-related issues: Croatia opens a consulate in Banja Luka The Republic of Croatia opened its consulate in Banja Luka on Monday. The opening ceremony was attended by the Croatian Foreign Minister, Tonino Picula, his BiH counterpart, Zlatko Lagumdzija, as well as the RS Prime Minister, Mladen Ivanic. Picula stressed following the ceremony that the consulate will primarily address the issues concerning the rights of Croats, which are one of the three constitutive peoples in BiH. According to media, Picula and Ivanic also discussed the problem of two-way return between Croatia and the RS, and the ways to enhance the economic ties between the two. Picula and Lagumdzija also opened a 115 meter long bridge near Dvor on Una which should also encourage the return of Serbs from BiH to Croatia and Bosnian Serbs presently living in Croatia to their homes in BiH. May Day celebrated throughout BiH By gathering in numerous towns and nature resorts across the country, BiH citizens celebrated the May Day, the International Labor Day, in a traditional manner. Upon the invitation of the BiH Labor Union, many workers gathered for a peaceful protests expressing their dissatisfaction with their present positions and the overall state of economy in the country. HDZ-related News: SDP party offices in Vitez blown up Offices of the regional board of the SDP in Vitez were shook by a strong explosion early Tuesday morning. According to media reports, the bomb, which was set at one of the outside windows of the SDP building, completely destroyed all the offices and caused significant material damage in the neighborhood. The Federation President and an SDP member, Karlo Filipovic, said that this incident was a desperate attempt of criminals who want to stop the democratic processes in the country. According to the president of the regional board of the SDP, Ivo Taraba, this was the fourth such attack on the SDP offices in Vitez in the past six moths. Hercegovacka Banka employees organize protests in Mostar More then a hundred former employees of the Hercegovacka Banka gathered yesterday for a protest rally in front of the main offices of this bank in Mostar. The protesters were caring signs which were slamming the International Community and the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch (e.g., "Austria is ashamed of Petritsch," and "Go conduct tank audits of banks in your countries,"). The president of the Independent Trade Union of the Hercegovacka Banka, Tomislav Bevanda, appealed to all local and international trade unions to publicly condemn the decision of the High Representative to impose the provisional administrator to this bank. Hercegovakca Banka depositers: We have no income for living! The newly established Association of the Hercegovacka Bank Depositors issued a press release yesterday: "Because of a consistent refusal of Ambassador Petritsch to order a de-blocking of the accounts in the Hercegovacka Bank, 90,000 depositors are left without the means for a living. Among the depositors there is a big number of pensioners and ill and infirm persons. We condemn most strongly the attempt of the Provisional Administrator Robinson to lay the responsibility for our troubles on the Bank's management and employees. The High Representative Petritsch suspended the Bank's management and employees and then expelled them to the street with the use of weapons, and they have thus been left without any sources for their existence. We are warning Ms Robinson that she has no right to speak on our behalf and that we are tired of her tutorship and hypocrisy. We condemn most strongly the armed attack at the private Hercegovacka Bank, carried out at the order from Mr. Petritsch. The Association of Depositors will be using legal ways to struggle against those who blocked our savings in a violent manner and we believe that the hand of justice will come up with them sooner or later." Companies in the Croat majority cantons facing a collapse because of the blockade of Hercegovacka Banka At a session of the Federation Chamber of Commerce, which was held in Zenica, it was stated that since the Hercegovacka Bank was blocked the companies in the Cantons with the Croat majority indirectly suffered a loss amounting to over 500 million marks. Along with the private companies, which were the shareholders or clients of the Bank, it is also the cantonal authority institutions that have the biggest financial problems. People from the Chamber of Commerce in the West Herzegovina Canton have been initiating talks with IC representatives for a few days now in order to overcome the present situation. As a result of these talks a thawing of the economic relations can be felt already and according to some HDZ officials a thawing of political relations with the international community in BiH, as well. In a few days, businessmen from the Croat-majority cantons will ask for a specific answer from the OHR with regard to the de-blocking of the Hercegovacka Bank and the establishment of a normal communication. A special attention will be paid to the de-blocking of the money in the Hercegovacka Bank. Vjesnik: Interview with Jozo Krizanovic, the Croat Member of the BiH Presidency - Each constituent people in BiH should elect its own delegates to the Houses of Peoples Answering to the question if the Croat delegates in the Federation House of Peoples should be elected solely by the deputies in the cantonal assemblies, Jozo Krizanovic, the Croat Member of the BiH Presidency said that the Election Law should give the right to each of the constituent peoples in BiH to elect its own delegates to the Houses of Peoples and the Constitutional and Legal Commissions. "The elected representatives must have the electoral legitimacy, and they will get it by being elected to cantonal assemblies, municipal or city councils, depending on the solution, and the very electoral mechanism must take into account the election results of the political parties and ensure that their representation in the Houses of Peoples is proportional to those parties' election results. I am sure that it is possible to find a proper solution and that there is a readiness to look for it in an atmosphere of appreciation of all the three peoples' interests. I am also sure that evading of a discussion in the institutions of the system and the exclusive emphasizing of a dialogue with the international community representatives cannot lead to the results we wish for," said Krizanovic. Were you, as a BiH Presidency Member, consulted about the moves that were made in the Hercegovacka Bank case, and what is your opinion about those moves? BiH Presidency Members were not consulted about the action that the High Representative, Mr. Petritsch took in the Hercegovacka Bank, and as far as I know, neither were the holders of the executive authorities in the BiH Federation. Unfortunately, the information about the action obviously did not reach the organisers of the protest rallies and Mostar and this lack of communication with the authority bodies in BiH contributed for the action of introducing an emergency management in the Bank to take an awkward and, I would say, unfortunate course and to assume a public picture. I think that the leading officials of the international community will learn adequate lessons from all that. In the past five years, the international community has mostly been imposing measures and forcing the BiH authorities to implement them. Simply, the international community has not had a habit to have the activities co-ordinated and harmonized with the BiH and entity institutions. Now that the new authorities share the project of building BiH and its democratization, removing all parallelism and non-transparency, big changes will have to occur in the mutual relations. British Ambassador Hand: BIH Croats are ready to negotiate Following his visit to Siroki Brijeg, the British Ambassador to BiH, Graham Hand, said that the BiH Croats and their leadership are ready for talks which would pull BiH out the present political crisis. "Croat leadership in BiH wants to overcome the current political situation through the existing constitutional and legal system in the country," said Hand, and added that the outcome of these negations will be known in the near future. An anonymous HDZ source told Oslobodjenje that the party is indeed preparing for the talks, but added that the negotiating team is still not chosen. Federation Police starts an investigation about 11,6 million KM of rent paid by the Spanish Battalion in Medjugorje According to Dnevni Avaz, the Federation Financial Police initiated an investigation about 11,6 million KM of rent, which has been paid by the Spanish Battalion within SFOR to Medjugorje authorities. The daily reports that the entire documentation about this transfer is missing, but adds that about three million KM were found on several unofficial accounts in Citluk. The head of the company "Kompas Medjugorje" which was in charge of the transaction, Miro Grbovac, apparently said that all the relevant papers were stored by the HVO Herceg-Bosna and that he has no knowledge about them. Federation: Catholic Church and residential building for displaced Croats in Drvar still not constructed (Vecernji List) The Drvar Municipal Council decided as far back as late January to allocate a piece of land for the construction of a residential building for the displaced Croats as well as a slot for the construction of a Catholic Church. The decision was supposed to mark the start of the solving of the housing problems of the displaced Croats from 47 BiH Municipalities who cannot return to their destroyed, pre-war homes in Central Bosnia and Posavina. As it was agreed in a session of the Municipal Council, all the required documentation was sent to the OHR, and the OHR was expected to confirm as soon as possible the decision unanimously passed by the Drvar Municipal Council. As much time as three months after that, there has been no positive response from the OHR but there was an official letter in which they demand additional documents and an explanation. This has shocked the displaced Croats in Drvar. To a general surprise, the OHR is asking for a certificate as to whether the land was allocated legally, because it is strange for the OHR representatives that the land is free of charge. The OHR is asking for detailed information about the future tenants of the residential building and their property, whether they filed repossession claims and if they did not, why they did not do it, and if they did what the situation is with regard to their claim. Neven Maric, the President of the Municipal HDZ Board in Drvar, stated: 'This is just another obstruction of the Municipal Council decision on the allocation of the land and a waste of precious time on which the provision of the housing for the displaced Croats depends. It will take a long time before we provide the documents that the OHR is asking for, because we have no access to the municipal registers, and it is almost impossible to get some of the information.' The situation with regard to the construction of a Catholic Church in Drvar is the same. The Municipal Department for Property-Legal Affairs was supposed to determine the location of the church together with the Parish Office. The press release issued by this Department reads that nothing has been done with regard to this issue, and the reason for it is the fact that there is no land surveyor. Croat Councilors from the Drvar Municipal Council believe that the Department does not have the capacity to do that and that there is, actually, a wish to expel the displaced Croats from Drvar. Republika Srpska: RS National Assembly to discuss the purchase of socially-owned flats During a session which is scheduled for later today, the RS National Assembly will discuss the proposed law on privatization of socially-owned apartments. According to media, while the OHR insists that these apartments are purchased by 100 percent of the old foreign currency savings, RS authorities say they will agree to 65 percent at most. The NA will also discuss the law on free access to information and the law on protection of children. RS government does not accept Srebrenica as a district In an interview with the Radio France International, the deputy prime minister, Petar Kunic, said that the RS government would never accept the proposal to turn Srebrenica into a free district similar to that of Brcko. Kunic explained that because of the territorial division of the RS into smaller municipalities, turning Srebrenica into a district would not be geographically possible. The mayor of Srebrenica, Sefket Hafizovic, came out last week with the proposal to declare this town an independent district. Editorials: Slobodna Dalmacija: Slobodna Dalmacija as a burden on one's conscience by Josip Jovic "The removal of the Slobodna Dalmacija management is being accounted for by presenting the alleged financial, recovery and similar reasons. As if political motives are out of the question. We have been asked as to why we would not address the international community and its institutions. Why would they not address us if they have an interest in that? And they do not. Their interest in the freedom of media is selective, too. I am sure that the phantomlike community, run by a few mason organisations which have woven a net in our territory, and this particularly refers to the media, have their hands in the case of reducing Slobodna Dalmacija to subjugation. To be more concrete, it is about BiH. We are the only newspaper that supports the rights of the Croats in the neighboring country, which makes us the most widely read paper among them, and the only newspaper that is in favor of their self-determination as opposed to the violent and discriminatory policy led against them. That is why we need to be removed, just like the Erotel, for instance, was removed. Racan has been obedient in this case, as he complies with and carries out all that he is asked to do, from the arrests of generals to the officers' salaries." Vjesnik: Petritsch 'suspends' the Court in Mostar By Mario Marusic "The High Representative in BiH, Wolfgang Petritsch once more resorted to his 'extended powers' and made a decision to transfer the jurisdiction for conducting investigative procedures and prosecution of the protagonists of the events of April 6 in Mostar, Grude, Siroki Brijeg, Posusje and Tomislavgrad from the courts that are really competent for that matter to the Cantonal court in Sarajevo," reads the article. It further reads that the transfer caused a number of reactions "especially following the comments made by OHR Spokesperson Oleg Milisic that 'the judiciary in Mostar is not working properly when it comes to the prosecution of Croats, which was the reason for ceding all cases referring to the events of April 6 to the Cantonal Court and Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo,' and also, the prosecution in all cases before that (Sarajevo) court will go faster." The article continues with quotes from the open letter that Davor Silic, Deputy Minister of Justice and Administration in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, published in reaction to "Milisic's explanation and Petritsch's decision itself."

The BiH Media Round-up is being compiled primarily for the OHR's internal purposes under time pressure. Please disregard grammar and typing mistakes. The mentioned media reports do not reflect OHR views, and the OHR does not take responsibility for them.

OHR BiH Media Round-up